If you reply, "yep, my legs are just about numb!" they will sound a bit sympathetic and you might think that they are judging you for making such a foolish transportation choice, and perhaps they are, but they are doing it because part of them is thinking, "if Scott is riding his bike to work, why aren't I? I really need to get in shape, after all, that's my resolution this year."
Frugalcalan nailed it--other people's negativity has absolutely nothing to do with you and your choices and EVERYTHING to do with feeling that their way of life is somehow being challenged.
The fiance and I started making a lot of changes within the past few months--selling a car/becoming a single car family, changing eating habits...hooray green vegetables!, cutting cable, not using the heater, etc. We definitely felt (and still feel) a lot of negativity and judgement from friends/family/coworkers about our decisions.
Fiance is better at dealing with this than I am...he doesn't really give a shit what anyone thinks about him and his 6 year old jeans with holes in the butt. I, on the other hand, am a little more sensitive to the criticism. After being a defensive brat for about a month, I started replying in "agreement" with any criticism.
Close friend who will never read this forum: "How do you eat kale, not have cable, ride your bike 1 mile to the grocery store, not spend your entire paycheck on shoes? Isn't that so disguising, boring, sweaty, and unfashionable?"
Me: "Yes it is" or "Yup, but I don't mind it"
She usually feels better about her anti-Mustachian ways, and I usually feel like the sassy bitch I am and go about my day. That being said, it took me some getting used to. It's an entire attitude adjustment.
I'm a just so glad to have found this forum and others that can relate. It does help on the days like today when 6 people in the office say "Oh you haven't given up riding your bike yet? I thought you would be done with that by now." It's a process of adjusting my attitude...and it's getting better :) I'm sure it will for you too!